Iraqi authorities have opened criminal proceedings against German teenager Linda Wenzel who was arrested after she ran away to join the Islamic State.

The 16-year-old and three other German women were charged yesterday following their capture in July in ISIS stronghold of Mosul, German weekly Der Spiegel reports.

German diplomats were confident Wenzel would be spared the death penalty but said it was possible she could spend years imprisoned in Iraq, according to Der Spiegel.

Footage from Wenzel’s arrest shows the schoolgirl being jostled through a crowd of cheering Iraqi soldiers.

Wenzel appears distraught however only screams out once, though she does appear to be holding back tears.

Wenzel's parents had been desperately looking for her since she disappeared from her home town of Pulsnitz, near Dresden, in July last year.

She is suspected of converting to Islam after being groomed by ISIS members on social media and reportedly married an ISIS soldier on Iraq.

Wenzel was arrested by Iraqi forces after she and a group of 20 female ISIS supporters from various countries barricaded themselves inside a tunnel in the ruins of Mosul with guns and explosives, The Guardian reports.

The decision by Iraq to initiate criminal proceedings against Wenzel and the other German women will come as a blow to German authorities who had been hoping to have them extradited back to Germany.